Which is the lesser of two evils? (foreclosures, home owners insurance)

[MelanieP]

That's a good point about how much you actually 'lose' in this situation by pricing it too high and carrying two monthly payments for longer than you could have.

We too are in the dreaded Florida housing market, where there are approximately three million houses for sale within a 2 mile radius and 2 million of them are foreclosures and short sales. OK, that's a "slight" exaggeration, but not much!

Yes, going into this with no illusions of a huge return will definitely spare us a lot of aggravation for nothing. Thanks again for the great advice!

[HSVbulldawg]

1. Sell your current house and get an apartment in the city you currently live in.
2. Find a job in Huntsville
3. Move

You don't have to line up a new job before you sell your house, you just have to line up a new job before you change towns. I would not want to be in the position of having to pay a house note and rent just to be near a new job. Also, values are dropping and then they will stabilize for a while (in most of the country) so the loss you have already taken (if any) is irrelevant. The loss you might take by waiting until you have moved to a new town to list your house is very relevant. At that point you will be under pressure to sell (which can lead to an even lower selling price for you personally). Also, if prices continue to drop, then you will get a better price by selling sooner rather than later.

If you are certain you are going to move at some point, sell your house first, then job hunt until you find a new job, then quit your current job, and then move.

[MelanieP]

Hi HSVBulldawg,

That is a really good suggestion that I'll have to bring up to my husband. I had thought of that at one point when we were considering building. I think my husband will probably boo-hoo the idea of being in an apartment with our two very active, sometimes "not-so-quiet" two- and four-year-old, (and three small dogs), but I personally think it's a darned good suggestion. And a lot more cost-saving, even with storage rental.

Plus, perhaps being in tight quarters with the kids will give him the extra motivation to look diligently and make it happen as soon as possible.

I am definitely going to suggest this idea - the concern that home values will continue to plummet over the next six months has been bothering me.

[michelle69]

Originally Posted by MelanieP

Those of us planning to relocate now are not the most fortunate people. :/ The housing market stinks, and the possibility of having a home on the market for a year-plus is very real. On top of it, the unemployment rate is high and many companies are downsizing, not hiring.

So my husband and I, who want to move to Huntsville to be near family, are left with this question: Which is wiser... sell your home first, have some money in your pocket, move and THEN job search, or obtain secure employment first, then list your home and pray it sells quickly so you're not stuck with 2 payments for very long?

How "is" the job market in Huntsville overall? My husband is not an engineer. He recruits and enrolls students in online college courses. There is nothing exactly like that in Huntsville, but since it involves sales, I'm sure that would open some doors to other possibilities.

Thank you for any wisdom, input, advice, personal experiences you wouldn't mind sharing!

Melanie
p.s. Nashville is a possibility if Huntsville is a dead end. A little more hectic and congested, but still within driving distance to family and an all-around pretty awesome city. We have 2 young kids, not starting school for another year-and-a-half.

since he recruits online he can keep his same job there asa long as you keep yhe internet service where you move i suggest you put your home on the market while searching 4 your new one

[MelanieP]

He actually goes into an office, but recruits people who are taking online courses. Various people with this company have talked to (OK, begged) their employer to allow them to work from home, but they always say no.

It's too bad, if he worked online from home that would make things so much easier.

[zenjenn]

That's a good point about how much you actually 'lose' in this situation by pricing it too high and carrying two monthly payments for longer than you could have.

I mean more than just that. In this market, your house may lose value, and you find yourself chasing the market down. My house literally lost nearly 30% of its value while I was chasing the market down. If I had sold under appraisal value to begin with, I would have sold it for MUCH more. Granted this was Southern California, which is an extreme example and a lot of that inflated value was funny money, but it's funny money we could have had if my husband and I hadn't been greedy. Oh well, live and learn.

We also found us paying very substantial amounts of money in maintenance every month because we weren't there. Not to mention property taxes. Once we had a water leak in a sprinkler and we didn't know about (obviously because we weren't living there), until we received the $500 water bill.

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by MelanieP

Hi HSVBulldawg,

I think my husband will probably boo-hoo the idea of being in an apartment with our two very active, sometimes "not-so-quiet" two- and four-year-old, (and three small dogs), but I personally think it's a darned good suggestion. And a lot more cost-saving, even with storage rental..

Perhaps renting a house will be less of a 'shock' to your life style.

Overall, I agree with everyone that you need to take care of your current house's situation before you move the whole family to another city. The key here is your monthly cash flow. It will be a drain to your income if you had to pay 2 mortgages at the same time.

If the housing market is so depressed around your current home, instead of selling you may want to consider renting out your house instead. This way, it will take care of your cash flow problem and give you breathing room until the housing market improves. Just screen your tenant carefully, check their credit reports, and require a one-year lease.

[MelanieP]

Yeah ZenJenn, and as I'm sure it's true of SoCal as it is in FL, maintenance is a big, year-round issue. We're talking year-round lawn maintenance, pest control, watering, A/C maintenance - it's hard enough keeping up with it when it's your only home to worry about!

And HB2HSV, I think given the amount of inventory that's available right now, it would definitely be possible to find a house to rent. In fact, there is one on my street right now and we know the people - if our house was already sold, I'd be calling them today, ha.

One thing I won't consider though, at least not yet, is renting our house out. First off, it ties up the bulk of what we plan to use as a down payment on another house, plus Florida is kind of notorious for bad renters. Even with good credit, they may pay the rent but usually don't take very good care of the home, and we have huge trees (lots of leaves) so keeping the grass alive is a real yard work commitment - something most renters don't seem to be real interested in, lol.

But, you never know down the road - we may get desperate enough if it doesn't sell.

[33458]

Originally Posted by zenjenn

Job first. You might even get a good relocation package if you're lucky, including a house buyout. If you don't, and I cannot emphasize this enough, list UNDER appraisal value and move on with your life. I am one of those people who had their house on the market for over a year, and if I would have taken that advice to begin with I would have had a lot more money in my pocket right now. Thankfully, I took that advice before the situation got even worse (and it did). If you list low enough, your house WILL sell.

I'm backing Zenn on this one...in my old neighborhood people had their homes listed for a minimum of $300,000...after all, they'd one time been appraised at 350-400! Cough, cough... Heck, we saw an appraisal of 325 at one point...but the appraisal was inflated and reflected the snazzy new gated communities/townhouses nearby, not what the house was really worth. (C'mon -- an average 15-20 years old, 1500 SQ FT on .11 acre with no pool?) Yet signs on every street were posted for YEARS with no movement, just the changing of agencies trying to sell it.
Some were flips that flopped, others were folks who wanted out after the last round of storms...
We listed for 250. - under 'market value'. Probably pithed off a few neighbors. We sold in less than two months. The houses that were listed at 300 are still listed at 300...

We moved here and got twice 'the house' for less.

I know it's harder for someone who has just recently purchased, because you got caught during the pricing upswing - we'd been there for 10 years so did not loose money, just imaginary profits.

I'd say firstly, after visiting a few times...find a secure position, then sell the house...and figure what you can honestly afford to take as an offer instead of what someone might try to convince you it should be.

Renting is tricky...double-edged sword. You become a absentee-babysitter and hope that someone isn't destroying your property...then again, in Florida, your insurance policy will be modified if you move out and leave the house uninhabited. (It's considered a risk.)

Yippee.

My best wishes and good luck!

[Southlander]

[quote=33458;6975817]Renting is tricky...in Florida, your insurance policy will be modified if you move out and leave the house uninhabited.[quote]

That's the deal in Alabama, too. And probably most states.